May 1, 2018 5 min read

Having a conversation about conservation has become difficult.

People may get the sense that they need to understand scientific formulas for carbon emissions to be a part of improving the world around them. For the South Hills community, though, residents can look in their own backyard for 87 acres of land that serves to better the environment.

Wingfield Pines Conservation Area, located across the street from Boyce Mayview Park in Upper St. Clair, is one of the Allegheny Land Trust’s 40 conservation areas in Allegheny County.

Tom Dougherty, vice president of Development and External Affairs at ALT, says Wingfield Pines, which ALT acquired in 2001, strives for two main goals: community wellness and environmental protection.

In terms of wellness, Dougherty says conservation areas like Wingfield Pines, which sees more than 16,000 visitors a year, are “great assets” to the community. “People need to realize the connection between green space and their own quality of life,” Dougherty says. “Most people bring their dogs or bring their kids and walk the trails. It’s a beautiful walk during the summer and fall. Others will kayak or canoe or inner tub on Chartiers Creek. In the winter, when it’s cold and snowing, some people will come to the ponds and ice skate.”

Dougherty adds that bird-watching groups have ranked Wingfield Pines as one of the top spots in Allegheny County.

Environmentally, Dougherty says, Wingfield Pines, which he calls a “forested floodplain,” has a rich history.

Originally, the 87 acres were utilized similarly to how they are now, as flat land to hold water that overflows from Chartiers Creek and prevent flooding downstream into Bridgeville, Carnegie and Heidelberg. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, Dougherty says, the land was transitioned into farmland. Then, like most of western Pennsylvania, coal was discovered underground and coal mined for the first half of the 1900s.

In the latter half of the 20th century, the land changed from a coal mine to a golf course and recreation facility called “Wingfield Pines.”

When ALT purchased the land in December 2001, the goal was to return the land to its original purpose. Dougherty says the longer the 87 acres are preserved, the greater the returns are.

“The more we protect these areas, the better they get,” Dougherty says. “As much as we can return this floodplain back to its original purpose, the better it gets. It’s important for habitat and it’s important for holding flood water.”

Now, Wingfield Pines holds more than 100,000 gallons of storm water when big storms hit. Dougherty says if Wingfield Pines didn’t exist, flooding would be worse in the area.

“If areas all along the creeks and rivers are developed, the water runs off quicker – or if a creek is channeled, the water stays in and causes a more raging torrent, which causes more issues downstream. In an area like Wingfield Pines … it takes the water out of the creek and into this area and the area will hold it and release it slowly back into the creek over time. It’s like a safety valve, and that’s what floodplains do.”

Dougherty says it’s important for local officials to understand the importance of conservation areas and develop the areas accordingly. “Development in Southwestern Pennsylvania is growing at a very rapid rate, much faster than our flat land can handle,” he says. “If there were development here, you’d have one less valuable place for 16,000 people for wellness.”

One of the most interesting part of Wingfield Pines is its abandoned coal mine drainage system. Though the coal mine hasn’t been active for more than 60 years, the minerals and elements still pollute the water. Mainly, iron gets into the water and once it hits the air, it ionizes, causing the water to turn a ghastly orange color. Prior to Hedin Environmental’s implementation of a filter at Wingfield Pines in 2008, 1,400 gallons of orange, polluted water would flow back into Chartiers Creek, which Dougherty says was a “threat to aquatic life.”

Visitors can walk on a bridge that takes them through the filter, which transfers the water through five different ponds to extract the ionized iron and see the water turn from orange to its natural green/blue color as it flows into Chartiers Creek. In 2018, though, the drainage system is broken for the first time in 10 years – the plan is to have the system functional by the end of the year.

Wingfield Pines is an example, according to Dougherty, of what makes Western Pennsylvania a great place to live and raise a family.

“I think what people like about Western Pennsylvania or the Pittsburgh region is that you can be a few miles from the city and also a few miles from a place like Wingfield Pines,” he says. “I want people to understand what an area like what Wingfield Pines, or green space in general, does for a community.”